Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The morning news had a video clip of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor saying something alarming about the role of the court of appeals as a place where policy is made.

The lesson here is Never Think Out Loud. Anything you say can and will be held against you at some point. And people who don't believe in evolution don't believe a person and their ideas can evolve. Every blurt becomes part of the scriptural record, unalterable and damning for eternity.

This happens in any confirmation process. But some people are worse about it than others.

Despite all the muckraking and finger pointing, ideologues on either side seldom get what they want, which is a vending machine for party-line answers.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

The Cadillac Escalade, a vehicle that might as well have seats upholstered with endangered species leather and the message "Drill Baby, Drill" permanently etched into the bumper, symbolizes conspicuous consumption and thoughtless disregard for a whole range of environmental, economic and political concerns. But this one has a conservation license plate.